2019 Africa Cup of Nations
Uganda vs Senegal
Egypt, 5 July
Kick-off 22:00
The national football team Cranes’ past few days have been dominated by a row between players and the federation over bonuses.
But with the two parties reaching a truce late on Wednesday, team captain Denis Onyango insisted the players had completely turned their focus to matters on the pitch ahead of their
Africa Cup of Nations round-of-16 clash against Senegal.
“We had issues but we resolved them as a team because these are issues that happen anyway. It’s like anywhere in the family when you have problems but unfortunately in football its money issues. But these were solved and we were back on training yesterday,” Onyango stated in the pre-match press conference on Thursday.
This is the first time Uganda have reached the knockout stages since 1978 when they were beaten finalists and having been eliminated in the group stages on their return in 2017.
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“We are looking at the game ahead of us because we have a nation to fight for and we have got Ugandans back home that are looking up to us. So we are just focusing on the game at the moment and we have forgotten our past issues with the federation,” Onyango added.
The Cranes have been a breath of fresh air at the tournament playing on the front foot in the group stages and defeating the more fancied DR Congo, holding out for a draw against Zimbabwe and dominating hosts Egypt.
Cranes coach Sebastien Desabre gave the impression his team will play the same way even against Africa’s top ranked nation.
“We proposed some very good offensive things. We have to manage the way of the game,” he said after the team’s final training session on Thursday evening.
Emmanuel Okwi has scored twice for the Cranes thus far but the creativity is most likely to come from Abdu Lumala who has been involved in the majority of the team’s bright attacking moments.
The game could also mark the return of key central defender Murushid Jjuuko who has not featured since the opening 2-0 win over DRC as the Cranes finished second behind group winners Egypt.
Senegal also qualified behind Algeria with six points after defeating Uganda’s neighbours Tanzania and Kenya with star striker Sadio Mane twice getting on the score sheet in the latter.
They also possess a lot of quality throughout the rest of the team including forward Ismail Sarr, Everton’s Idrissa Gueye and Napoli’s solid centre back Khalidou Koulibaly.
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